This invention relates to a system for measurement of the direction of flow of ocean currents. The invention relates especially to apparatus for deriving the direction of current flow in a body of water.
There are many methods of measuring both magnitude and direction of ocean currents presently available. The major problem with prior type devices is that the sensors are generally large and bulky or consume large amounts of power. The use of the thermal current sensor has been slight because it was believed that there was no inherent method for measuring direction of ocean currents.
The present system has overcome the shortcomings of prior devices and provides a small lightweight direction sensing means for readily locating the direction of flow of ocean currents. The system involves locating the stagnation point of a spherical body immersed in a fluid by using a multitude of thermosensors to measure the direction of fluid flow. The apparatus of this invention has the capability to derive current direction in three dimensions directly with low power consumption.